
Pass ;".4 5 
Book 



I 






THE MARTYR PRESIDENT. 

.A. DISCOURSE, 

DELIVERED EN THE 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PENN YAN, N. Y„ 

if z& 

SABBATH MOBNING, April 16th, 1865, 

ON THE DEATH OF 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

BY THE PASTOE 

REV. FREDERICK STARR, JR. 



REPEATED BY REQUEST IN THE 

NORTH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, St. Louis, Mo. 

SABBATH MORNING, May 14. 1865. 
BY THE PASTOR ELECT. 



SOLICITED FOR PUBLICATION. 



ST. LOUIS: 

SHERMAN SPENCER, PRINTER, No. 38 MARKET STREET. 

1865. 



t-4 

.8 

.5- 




DISCOURSE. 



Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel .—2 Samuel , 
iii, 38. 

The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord. — Job, 
i, 21. 

Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. 

And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept. 

And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth? 

Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters; as a man falleth before wicked 
men, so fellest thou. And all the people wept again over him.— 2 .Samuel, iii, 31, 32, 33, 34, 



Calamities are frequent ! Such dispensations, startling and fear- 
ful as they may be to those intimately involved in them, are 
generally so confined as to locality, so limited in the numbers af- 
fected b}^ them, are so transient in their effects, and so wholly 
isolated from questions of morality and Christianitj*, that rarely 
does one occur which can be called, properly, a "national calamity." 

They also, either by natural signs, or by the forecast of the hu- 
man mind, are so far discovered, that in some measure, men are 
prepared for their coming before the hour, in which the general 
grief shall smite ihem; when the billows of public woe shall be lashed 
to foam, and beat over them with sullen roar, and irresistable force. 

The citizens of these United States are to-day in the dust, ago- 
nized, bewildered, stunned by the national calamity which has smit- 
ten them down. Sudden as the crashing thunder, sounding through 
the clear sky, fearful and deadly as the swift fiery bolt that rends 
the gnarled oak, it fell upon us. A deed hath been enacted with- 
out a parallel in all the annals of earthly history ! excepting Him 
whose resurrection from the dead, millions shall this day celebrate, 
who came the only begotten of God; who was God, and hence not 
to be brought into comparison with mere man. Excepting only the 
God-man our Saviour, there has never been so sad a death ! There 
has never been a time so critical, a nation so potential in its influ- 
ences upon the world, a cause so allied to holy and pure prinei- 



pies, a man so prominent, so honored, so loved, so powerful as 
Abraham Lincoln, who in this hour of peril the head of this great 
nation, the representative of Jaw, government, humanity and liberty, 
lies in yonder Capitol, cold and stiff in death by the hand of an as- 
sassin ! ! ! 

Gloom, like a heavy pall of Egyptian darkness, shrouds all the 
land ! Slowness of speech, sadness of countenance, starting tears, 
oppressed respiration, a crushed heart, dark forebodings, anxious 
agonizing prayers, are to-day the common heritage of the Ameri- 
can citizen : while every ear shall tingle to the remotest end of 
earth, as it shall hear of this crime, against God and man ! Such 
is our calamity; let us then on this occasion enquire, — 

T. Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen 
this day in Israel ?" 

There are three things in this world which serve, in an especial 
manner, to confer greatness upon men. 

a. The circumstances which surround men, and the positions which 
they occupy. The position just robbed of its ornament and occupant, 
by the murderer's hand is the highest which has ever been filled by 
man. There have been nations, that have endured, in their national 
life, centuries longer than our own. There have been nations, whose 
public domain was far more extended than what we possess ; whose 
population many times exceeded ours; whose despots have ruled with 
an absolute power of oppression and exaction, of life and death in no 
measure belonging to the President of this Republic. But it is to be 
remembered, that no time in earth's history has been seen such an 
age as this: that within the last half century, in agriculture, in 
mechanical inventions, in useful discoveries, in advanced educa- 
tion, in means of physical and mental communication over the 
whole face of the globe, have been made advances, greater than 
those achieved in thousands of years preceeding. The printing 
press, before inert and unwieldy, has become almost instinct with 
living, and energizing intelligence; seeming like a huge giant to 
seize the reams in whiteness, to cast them forth upon the nations, 
tens of thousands in an hour, transformed, made wonderful by the 
simple passage through his hands, and all intense, with the burden 
of great truths and interests connected with the race. The station- 
ary steam engine, the proud steamship, the swift locomotive, are 
all the productions of this century. The postal system of the world, 
has taken the place of unreliable and individual carriage. The 



telegraph has extended its iron nerves over much of the earth, 
bringing remotest nations in all commercial and governmental in- 
terests, into instant and sympathetic communication. Old forms 
of government have been utterly discarded, or greatly modified ; 
and the theories and practice of war have changed both on land and 
sea. And where stand we among the nations? Almost theyoung- 
est of all the sisterhood, no nation, in so short a history, in all the 
past of this world, has so rapidly advanced in population, in do- 
main, in wealth, in power and in influence, as these United States. 
And he, who now is slain, was the head and front of this great 
people, at the moment of its greatest strength. In the time of its 
most rapid advancement, he was called to preside over its destinies, 
and he hath been its ruler, through the hours of its darkest 
night — through the years of its deepest peril. No leader hath 
ever led such a nation to battle ; hath ever marshaled an 
array of such intelligence, patriotism and Christianity; hath 
had such a navy to plough the main. There are great crises 
in the world's affairs ; and this bloody war of rebellion, the 
last which has transpired, probably shall have a wider influ- 
ence upon the destinies and interests of the entire world, than 
any four years since time began. Now, when the crisis is passing, 
they who are the actors and the moving spirits are they who, 
alone in future history, can stand identified with those great peri- 
ods, and I hesitate not to say, considering the questions involved, 
the interests at stake, the terrors of the convulsion through which 
we have passed, and are still passing, that our loved, noble Presi- 
dent hath stood in the highest and most responsible position ever 
occupied by man. This day he lies in cold and solemn state, 
while we, as bereaved children, mourn around his bier. "Know 
ye not that a prince and a great man hath fallen in Israel to-day ?" 
6. Energy and talent are chai*actcristics which confer greatness 
upon their possessor. Called to the head of the government at an 
hour, when no man felt wise enough to devise a way of escape 
from our dangers — when no man felt strong enough to say, " I 
can deliver, and my will shall be done" — humbly but patiently he 
assumed the honors, the duties, the dangers which his nation had 
thrust upon him without his seeking, and asking all to invoke, for 
him, the guidance and protection of God ; disguised as a fugitive, to 
escape the bloody death which, after four years, has fallen upon 
him, he entered our capitol alone, and took up the reins of govern- 



6 

mcnt, which cowardly and traitorous hands had dropped into the 
mire. While millions prognosticated evil — while many charged 
imbecility, and filled their mouths with revilings and contempt — 
calmly and carefully he set himself to study the problem of our 
nation's deliverance and salvation. By no lights of past history 
guiding his obstructed footsteps, for there were no precedents for 
this great struggle ; but seeking to be led, and gathering every 
ray of light from every quarter, as, from day to day, they gleamed 
through the fissures of what seemed to be the crumbling walls of 
this republic, he pressed on. And he hath left a record of pure de- 
votion, of consummate wisdom, of the most grand and solid states- 
manship which the world hath ever seen. Enemies and friends, 
alike, have been compelled to admire him 5 foreign nations have 
been awed into respect; and distant tyrants, on their mighty 
thrones, have trembled at his words. Little as the murdered 
Lincoln hath, in the hour of his achievements, received the due 
acknowledgement of what he was, and of what he hath done, 
coming generations, and other nations, as from afar they look 
back upon the men of the past, shall see and own among the rulers 
or statesmen of the world no greater name than his, and acknowl- 
edge him the precious gift of God to this great nation in the hour 
of her extremity. "Know ye not that there is a prince and a 
great man fallen this day in Israel 1" 

c. But that which confers the truest and the highest greatness 
upon man is his character. However elevated the position a man 
may occupy, either by birth, by his own achievements, or by the 
choice of those who would honor him, or use him for their ends ; 
there cannot be any greatness which satisfies a noble and intel- 
ligent soul, unless it beholds connected therewith worthy princi- 
ples of action, and pure and elevated aims. When these are 
certainly present, the}^ impress men with approbation and awe. 
While, where they are lacking, men arc ready to acknowledge and 
respect the position or official standing — to praise the ability and 
powers of the individual — while, in their souls, they can only de- 
spise and loathe him as proud, selfish, ambitious, and unprincipled. 
If any man has ever occupied a high position, and through years 
Of difficulty, oppositions, distracted counsels, varying fortunes, im- 
pressed all men, friends and foes alike, with his deep patriotism, 
his unselfish devotion, his earnest desire to do right, to serve his 
nation, and to please God, that man was Abraham Lincoln. And 



when the time of his trial came, when his suffering, bleeding na- 
tion, was called upon to say ; in the midst of terrific battles, of 
increasing debt, of onerous taxes, and impending drafts ; will you 
have this man to reign over you still ? Like tbe voice of many 
waters, came up from all the nation the thankful answer, YES ! 
The great and glorious Washington was re-elected President of 
the United States in the time of peace. The second Father of his 
Country, Lincoln, in the time of war. Washington led our nation 
in a war against a hostile foe, foreign and far removed from our 
land, when we numbered three millions. Lincoln hath led our 
nation, through a civil war, with the foe indigenous to the soil, 
with the nation numbering thirty-three millions, divided in itself 
and clasped in a death struggle. Washington died in old age,- in 
peace, his work completed, his service ended. Lincoln died in the 
full flush and prune of life ; his left hand still bearing on high the 
scroll of the nations liberty and life — the glorious Constitution he 
had sworn to maintain — his right still waving on, with the nation's 
sword, our veteran armies to victory over lawlessness, bloodshed, 
aristocracy, slavery and rebellion. He died a martyr to the pure 
and holy principles which had controlled his government; and 
was added to the number of those sons of the republic who have 
been offered as a sacrifice for her life, and have shed their blood 
for universal liberty. Oh, Sudden night ! Shut down on such a 
glorious noon ! Oh, sad destruction of most blessed hopes ! Oh, 
bloody termination of a career so glorious and high ! Oh, nation ! 
in thine hour of triumph and of joy, smitten into the dust ? Yet, 
how could he die better than to seal his truth, his principles, his 
life, with his own blood ? Without a personal stain on all his 
character, humane, humble, full of truth and honesty and honor, 
he died. Let stand your nation for a thousand years. Call to the 
helm of state the wisest and the best. In all the long catalogue of 
names shall none be found who served his country with a purer 
aim, who built her honor more, or gave a higher glory to her 
name and throne ! 

"Know ye ! Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man 
fallen this day in Israel V 

II. The Lord God Almighty is the dispenser of the blessings or 
woes of His creatures. If ever any man was brought to a position 
of honor by the direct hand of God, it seems, to my own mind, to 
be as clear in the case of the elevation and election of Abraham 



8 

Lincoln, as in the triumph of Mordeeai. And that God, who pre- 
pares men for great events, and qualities them for the parts they 
are to act, thus qualified and prepared him, as we have already 
noticed, for that station which he has so worthily, usefully, and 
faithfully filled. 

But now, darkness has come over us. Is it dark with God ? 
Perplexities surround us ; is God discomfited ? We are mourning ; 
does God grieve ? No. All is light with him. All is serene in 
Heaven. He sees clearly what shall come to this nation — " His 
mercy endureth forever." No ! this fearful dispensation is but one 
of the great steps, of His own wise and gracious plans, to bring us 
to the truth, to justice, to repentance, and the doing of righteous- 
ness. "We might, perhaps, profitably enquire, Why hath God taken 
away the head of the nation ? 

a. To punish us for our sins. We are a nation, despite the bruis- 
ings and crushings of this war, proud, unhumbled, and impenitent, 
and God has sent this in punisment of our sins. 

b. To compel us to rely on God alone. Men are prone to make 
idols of those whom they admire ; and to lean heavily on those in 
whom they confide ; and ever, in the times of success, to forget 
God, and give glory to the instrument. He hath taken away our 
head ! To whom shall we now flee but unto Him ? 

c. We have not prayed enough for our President and officers and 
rulers. Our President, now dead, asked all this nation to pray for 
him. Hundreds of thousands have, hundreds of times, lifted up 
prayer to God for him ; but how many, who love their country 
well, never asked God to give him wisdom, courage, defence, and 
principle ? We have another President to-day ; he may, or he 
may not, like him departed, ask our prayers ; but shall he not have 
them ? Shall we not pray that God will deliver us, not alone from 
the armies of the rebellion, but also from the cups, knives, and 
pistols of assassins lying in wait for the generals of our armies, 
and the officers of our nation ? Shall we not, as a nation, turn to 
prayer as never in the past ? 

d. God had fulfilled the earthly service and mission of Abraham 
Lincoln. Had God chosen longer to have saved him, had He re- 
quired further service at his bands, ho had not died. God raised 
him up. Ho used him efficiently and gloriously, and then took 
liiin unto Himself his service was ended. 



And we can further enquire, What should we do, as a nation, 
under this affliction ? 

a. Be thankful unto God for the past. Let not the sorrow of the 
present rob us of the joy of the past. Let not the loss we now 
feel, lead us to repining and unthankfulness for the great gift we 
have had so long in possession. And let us thank God that, while 
the President died, the Secretary of State was spared ; and that 
Grant, Stanton, and we know not how many others probably 
aimed at in the conspiracy, escaped unharmed. 

b. Be courageous and trustful in God for our country. If it be 
God's care he will not let it fall — though He may wound, He will 
heal — though He may cast us down, He will raise us yet again, 
and crown us with glory. "His arm is not shortened, that it can- 
not save." 

c. Let us remember that God is omniscient. If we knew all 
things, and were able to look into the hearts of all men, to weigh 
their abilities and energies with unfailing exactness ; to understand 
fully the exigencies and dangers which are to arise in the future • 
then we could, from among men, select the one best fittod, by 
judgment, natural powers, and needful principles, for that especial 
position. Then, we could, with certainty, oppose and control the 
elements which still would seek the dishonor and destruction of 
our country. We also would then know what plans to adopt, what 
policy to introduce; what resources to employ, to save our land, to 
restore peace, to vindicate the right, so long ruthlessly insulted and 
trampled in the dust. But omniscience is not ours. It is God's 
alone ! And can we not trust all in His hands ? He knew the 
abilities of Lincoln, Grant, Sheridan, Thomas, Farragut and Sher- 
man, long before they were conscious, of the first thought, that 
greatness should ever appertain to themselves. He saw them the 
defenders of libert}^ and country, long before their fellow citizens 
had heard their name i or were willing to trust them with the 
leadership of our State or arms. And cannot He, whose eye sees the 
future with the certainty with which it beholds the past ; who 
knows every soul, with a deeper knowledge than it can have of itself, 
choose for us, from among all our people, those who will lead us 
through the perils and civil dangers to come ? If we are a holy 
nation, walking humbly and prayerfully, doing justly, loving mer- 
cy, and executing judgment, because we wish to be God's, then His 
omniscience will be exercised to lead and bless us — He will make 



10 

our path, He will crown our counsels, lie will choose our leaders. 
III. It is proper to weep for the truly great, the brave and tfte 
good. 

a. Because a heavy loss is directly sustained in their removal. 
Men belong not alone to themselves. Their families, the communi- 
ties where they dwell, the nations of their birth or adoption, have 
natural and civil claims upon them so strong and just that their ful- 
fillment is virtue, and their neglect is crime. "When God raises up 
any man, who, in character, ability, and achievement, is accom- 
plishing great good, his removal is a sore calamity to the people. 
So many men, possessed of ability, are wanting in principle. So 
man}', of principle, are wanting in judgment. So man}*, even in 
good deeds are actuated by unworthy motives. So many are cor- 
rupt and venal, lending their services either to the right or wrong, 
according to the recompense promised, that the loss of every true, 
pure, patriotic, good man is a loss to all about him — yea, to the world. 
Every such one is needed. When one dies, the eye, watchful for 
the general interest, is closed ; the tongue, which spoke for the 
right, is hushed ; that hand, which held back oppression and crime, 
is powerless ; and the generous heart, which embraced all men in 
its benevolence, is still ! Should man weep over personal losses — 
over private disappointments — over individual bereavements? 
Then assuredly should he weep when such a living, acting, en- 
ergizing power, which blessed all about it, dies. 

b. It is proper to weep, because death withdraws the example 
of the good. It is, in one sense, true, that no man can die ! The 
acts which, in life, he performed, will act and re-act through all 
the future. Every word which he hath spoken, hath influenced 
and moulded some character, which, in its turn, shall influence 
others ; so that nothing of his life shall be lost, whether it be good 
or bad. In another sense, a man's life is complete when death 
takes him away. Of all he hath thought, or said, or done, he can 
alter nothing. The record is closed — the drama is ended. Thence- 
forth stands an example, either to be honored and followed, or to 
be reprobated and shunned. Wherein, then, can it be said, that, by 
death, one's example is cut off? The bustle of business, tho 
broodings of covotousness, the rush of passions, the necessities of 
life, so occupy men — engross their time — exhaust their energies, 
that but few reflect — few read — few remember those who have 
lived in the past. Even our own dead are almost forgotten. The 



11 

examples which men most notice, are those prominently connected 
with matters of general interest ; those mostly discussed among 
men ; those brought most frequently in contact with themselves. 
When any man dies, just as he surrenders his place to another to 
discharge the duties and bear the honors which were his, and be- 
comes a man " who was," instead of one » who is," so his examplo 
becomes historic, instead of present. As the remembrance of a 
man passes away, except as re-called by sights, circumstances, 
dates and occasions, so his example, instead of being a part of 
passing events, an ever-present reality, moving and acting among, 
with, and before millions of his fellows, becomes the cold truthful 
record of what he was, and of what he did ; and the greater the 
man, the more valuable and impressive his life, the greater the 
loss sustained in the withdrawment of that example. 

c. They are a loss to the beauty and the glory of the nation from 
which they are taken. Great and distinguished persons are repre- 
sentative men. And where such arise, they are especially the 
property of the individuals whom they represent ; and generally 
of the country producing them. Men elected to office, are the ex- 
ponents of the political opinions of their constituents. Great gen- 
erals and admirals are the culmination of prowess, strategy and 
courage, and the boast of armies. Great scholars and orators are 
the pride and idols of all men of letters. Great statesmen and 
grave judges reflect honor on the law— great surgeons, physicians 
and inventors, on science. Holy saints honor the church and re- 
ligion, and glorify Christ Himself. Patriots, pure and devoted, 
make their country renowned and illustrious. While just, wise 
and righteous rulers are a croion of majesty and glory to their nations. 

Individuals become distinguished and honored in their commu- 
nities by their virtues and abilities. Communities rank high in 
the nation, according to their characters, and the number and in- 
fluence of great and good men ; and nations know scarcely any- 
thing of each other, save a few geographical facts, a few great 
historical facts, and the names of the rulers, and a few great men. 

The great and good men are the true diadem of a nation's glory ; 
and every one who dies is a bright jewel plucked from the crown 
the nation in the present wears, to show what she now is, to be set 
in that other imperishable crown, which tells what she hath been. 

David, in the hour of his accession to the crown, lamented over 
the fall of those whose removal gave him advancement. "The 



12 

beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places. How are the mighty 
fallen ! Tell it not in Gath ; publish it not in the streets of Askelon ! 
Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there bo no dew nor rain upon you ! 
Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul ! IIow are the mighty 
fallen !" 

When Abner had fallen by the hand of the assassin Joab, 
David called on all the nation, as he stood by the bier of that 
great general, so foully murdered, "Bend your clothes, and gird 
you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner I And the king lifted 
up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people 
wept." When Jesus stood by the grave of his friend Lazarus, He 
wept ; and the Jews said, " Behold how he loved him." And when 
the heaven-beholding Stephen, the first of the martyrs of Jesus, had 
been murdered, devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and 
made great lamentations over him. 

My fellow countrymen ! The woe upon you is great. Fast 
flow your tears ! Hang out the signs of grief I • Lower 3'our glo- 
rious flag ! Bow low your heads in anguish 1 For your President 
upon your throne, hath fallen in his capital by murder; the Gen- 
eral of all your armies and navies hath met an ignominious death by 
the hand of an assassin ; your Friend, yea, more, your Father, 
and the Father of your country hath passed away ; and he that 
feared God and wrought righteousness hath been martyred there- 
for. Yea, weep and rend your garments I Your King, General, 
Friend, and Christian Leader hath in a moment been cut off ! 
His active, honorable, useful life is closed 1 His pure and worthy 
example has become a thing of the past ! And the glory, the joy, 
the beauty of our nation is quenched in darkness. 

d. But there is another cause of sorrow, which, as a Christian 
minister, I cannot, in faithfulness, omit to mention. The cares 
and duties which have rested on, and weighed down, our late 
President, during these four years of war, were numerous and 
crushing to physical health and mental vigor ; and only a consti- 
tution invigorated and hardened by exposure, hardship and con- 
tinued physical , labor, and preserved by carefulness and great 
physical exercise ; and a mind of extraordinary vivacity, cheerful- 
ness, and elasticity, could have endured them. A body, so wearied 
as his, seemed to need change of place. A mind so overtaxed, de- 
sired, if possible, not only relaxation, but utter forgetfulness, and 
the substitution of wholly different trains of thought. Crowded in 



13 

time, by hundreds of visitors in a da}*, all coming with business or 

petitions — feeling the necessity to meet that favor always claimed 
by a people from their rulers — that they would show themselves 
in public to their citizens — Abraham Lincoln sometimes attended 
the theatre; and thus sought recreation, rest, and the opportunity 
to appear before the people without demands for speeches, or per- 
sonal applications for individual benefits. In this manner, he him- 
self set a personal example before our citizens and the youth of 
our country, which, if followed by them, would be deleterious in the 
extreme. He gave his countenance to a class of individuals, who 
are perhaps beyond any others — while professing respectability, 
and to be teachers of morality — the most depraved, vicious and 
unprincipled in society ; and gave his influence and presence, to 
fill the coffers of those who are the most useless members of the 
whole community, in contributing anything to the well-being, the 
prosperity, or the property of the nation. It is true that Mr. 
Lincoln had never made a public profession of religion • and some 
thence argue that there was no impropriety in his attending the 
theatre. On the other hand, it has been reported that Mr. Lin- 
coln had privately declared himself as having a hope in Chris! . 
Wo know, from unquestioned testimony, that in his later years, 
he was accustomed to go to God in secret prayer • and his messages 
and speeches all bear an increasing impress down to the last in- 
augui'al, the most honorable and most glorious one of all, of his 
increasing dependence on God, desire of heavenly guidance, and 
effort to please God. While we make all possible allowances for 
the early education of Mr. Lincoln, (perhaps without religious 
influences,) while we remember his need of relaxation, and the du- 
ties he considered himself as owing to the populace ; when we re- 
gard the fact that Christians, who should have set him a better 
example, were accustomed to frequent the same place, and it is 
supposed, to urge his presence ; even then we must say we consider 
the attendance of the President of the United States at the theatre 
a sad mistake ! That, had its moral influence and the evil of the 
example been pointed out to him, that noble, honest, benevolent 
man would not have yielded to any urgency, oi- invitation to at- 
tend that place. He was an uncompromising temperance man, for 
his own sake, and the benefit of others. And the same principle, 
and cheerful obedience of duty, which made him that, would, if 
properly presented, have led him to abjure the theatre. Would 



14 

that all our government officers might think of these things, and 
give their influence upon the side of morality, the puhlie benefit, 
and right. 

From the sad place where the President was assassinated, we 
learn that we can never approve ourselves, if voluntarily found in 
those places, where death cannot appropriately find us. No man 
knows when, or where, or how death may meet him. lie should 
frequent no place, engage in no amusement or business, be found 
with no companions, which should cause him a blush, or wring his 
heart with a regret, or leave his friends to mourn that he died 
there, or so engaged, or with such company. 

Again, we cannot too scrupulous^ inspect the conduct and char- 
acters of men with whom we associate — especially strangers. There 
seems oftentimes, on the part of 3'outh of both sexes, to be an idea 
that it is a desirable thing to be acquainted with persons who have 
seen much of the world, without enquiring which part of it they 
have seen, or with what motives. Those, too, who are conspicuous- 
ly before the public, no matter in what character, are sought after 
by the weak. The inexperience of youth is easily flattered by a 
few words, or a little notice from strangers, whom they suppose to 
bo well posted in matters respecting the manners of society, and 
the ways of the world ; and before men of studied deceit, and ripe 
experience in crime, principles become corrupted ; integrity ceases, 
and virtue falls. If all our youth would seek for companions who 
have more of native modesty, and know less of the world, it would 
be a blessing to their persons, souls and estates. The world is full 
of men and women who have traveled too much ; have seen too 
much of the world, and know too much to be either safe compan- 
ions, or truly good citizens. 

Again, we see from what class of men come some of the great 
crimes of our country. Prodigality, intemperance, and lewdness 
are generally considered and found to be concomitants of the stage. 
The whole business of the stage is the practice of hypocrisy. It 
is one continual assumption of characters, dissimilar each to the 
other, and from his own who plays. To-day he acts the saint, and 
to-morrow the villain, with equal earnestness, and with a desire 
to produce equal impression. His exhibition of virtue is but a 
simulation ; his presentation of vice ofttimes is set forth con amove. 
It was in this school of hypocrisy and vice that he was trained, 
who hath dared to lay his impious and deadly hand upon the Lord's 



15 

anointed. Any place would be dreadful, wherein such a deed of 
horror had been committed ; but the words of Mrs. Lincoln, that 
"dreadful house," meant more; and they speak that sad regret 
which is felt by every true patriot, and especially, Christian heart. 
That we could wish that our noble martyr had met his death in 
almost any other place than a theatre — by almost any hand rath- 
er than that of a depraved actor. This is a drop peculiar in our 
great cup of grief. 

IV. The sadness of untimely death, is modiftedby the presence and 
blessedness of innocence. As regards their procuring causes, there 
are three kinds of death which men die. 

a. There is the death of necessity. " It is appointed unto all 
men once to die." When the time allotted has transpired, by dis- 
ease, or age and decay, or by accident, the man perishes, there is 
no immediate cause therefor in any act performed, or moral char- 
acter possessed by him, he dies in the course of nature. 

b. There is the death by folly. A violation of natural laws 
brings its own penalty, disease, frenzy, suicide ! A violation of 
social laws brings opposition, revenge, murder. A violation of 
human laws, brings fines, manacles, fetters, imprisonment, and 
capital execution. And high handed crimes against God and re- 
ligion, sometimes receive " the immediate visitation of God," as in 
the case of Booth. It is the fool's death. 

c. There is a death by virtue and righteousness. " Died Abner," 
asked David, " as the fool dieth ? Thy hands were not bound, nor 
thy feet put into fetters ! As a manfalleth brfore wicked men, so fell- 
est thou ! And all the people wept again over him." 

Sin is voracious and vindictive. It is the opposite of holiness, 
it seeks everywhere to displace and to annihilate goodness and 
righteousness. As sin, in its nature, ever opposes right, so men, 
imbued with sin, ever hate and oppose those who are good. Think 
you that sin is gentle and harmless ? Look at all the innocent blood 
that, through the ages, has crimsoned the earth ? Look at the 
holy prophets, and the blessed apostles, and the christian martyrs ! 
Look at Jesus ! Sin, in different ages, or men, or lands, develops 
itself in special forms; and in these last four years, in our nation 
and country, in treason and rebellion ! What are the fruits ? What 
hath it done ? It has torn from their families thousands who were 
loyal to their country, and compelled them to murder men who 
were defending the government and constitution of this broad land. 



18 

It hath cast thousands into prisons, to suffer every cruelty, and 
death itself, because they would not unite in crime against tlod 
and this great nation. It hath shot men, by hundreds, in cold 
blood, in their houses, without the prison walls, on the mountains, 
because they had this one virtue — loyalty. It hath burned homes, 
and driven out to suffering despair, and perishing tens of thou- 
sands of innocent women and children ; not for any crime, save 
they belonged to those who were loyal. It has also seized wounded 
prisoners, entitled to humanity, and hath bayonetted them, shot 
them through the head, and cut their throats while dying. It hath 
cast the dying into the flames, and consumed them ; it hath buried 
the living; it hath crucified men, and burned them by slow flres; 
it hath taken wounded prisoners, and inflicted upon them unnec- 
essary amputations ; and compelled sick soldiers to a diet which 
has brought speedy death ; it hath taken from fifty to eighty thou- 
sand men, and subjected them to a slow and unspeakably horrible 
death by starvation, till near forty thousand men are now in their 
graves by this murder, and forty thousand more live on, ruined 
in health, and comfortless ; it hath, at last, by dark plotting con- 
spiracy, sought to cut down the organized government of your nation, 
and hath marred and murdered your President. 

The sin which was determined to stop the President and Cabi- 
net of this nation in the performance of their duty, and was will- 
ing and ready to murder them, would assassinate, had it xhe 
power, every lesser loyal personage, even to the last, were it necessa- 
ry, to gratify this ambition and retain its power and criminal and 
degrading institutions. 

Abraham Lincoln is dead ! And he yet lives ! and will live, honored, 
loved, revered, for he died in the path of duty. He died for the 
principles of right and liberty. He died, because he loved his 
country and feared God. His name in the future shall stand first 
on the long roll of noble, brave patriotic, and Christian men who 
have died for their country — who responded to his call, in her hour 
of danger — who gave their blood for her redemption from sla- 
very and crime. 

r. We are called to-day to a new consecration, to God and our 
Country. No one can too highly regard the enforcement of the 
laws, or too strongly demand their execution. One crime there is 
above all others, as regards human government — it is treason — by 
as much as a nation, is greater than a family ; by as much as the 



17 

State, is more important than the individual ; by so much does 
treason exceed conspiracy against private parties, and war in its 
behalf surpass mere individual murder. That is the only crime 
known to the organic law of this great nation. The Constitution 
defines treason and its punishment. It is simple — it is plain — it is 
understood by all. More than four years this crime has raged ram- 
pant in the land. Until this hour, I know not that one man hath been 
executed for treason against the United States. While the accursed, 
diabolical usurper — for four years the tyrant of a fictitious govern- 
ment — hath executed hundreds of brave, true, God-fearing men, 
for what he called treason against his government, but which was 
simply loyalty to the United States. 

December last, five years age, an old man, his head white with 
years, his intellect disordered by persecution — by the murder of 
his son, and by too intense sympathy for God's oppressed poor — 
" with a radiant countenance, and the step of a conquei-or," as- 
cended to the platform of a gallows in Virginia. Surrounded by 
three thousand s jldiers, with loaded muskets ; by cannon turned upon 
the scaffold, and placed to sweep every avenue of approach ; while 
guards were picketed fifteen miles in every direction around 
Charleston jail, to prevent his escape, or deliverance ; the illustrious 
man — unterrified and triumphant — was executed. 

This so-called criminal had levied war against the United States 
in seizing the national armory at Harper's Ferry, and fighting 
against its troops ; and against Virginia, in invading her territory, 
seizing her citizens, shooting men, and inciting rebellion among 
her slaves. The brave old soldier, oft sabred, twice bayonetted, 
with four wounded companions, was captured by loyal Col. Robert 
E. Lee and ninety U. S. Marines, aided by the militia of Virginia ! 
He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to die. Before the court, 
that man, who knew not how to lie, answered, "I deny everything 
but what I have all along admitted — the design on my part to free 
the slaves. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, 
or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite 
slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection." Honest, noble, Loyal 
words ! Oh, was there no room for mercy in Virginia's heart ? 
None ! Could not the executive of the United States urge clemen- 
cy for him ? No ! HE seemed to pant for the offender's blood. 
AYas there no pardon for a poor, insane, old man — the christian 
philanthropist — who wildly and mistakenly sought to give deliv- 



L8 

eranee and blessing- to the oppressed? No. None! Governor 
Wise replied to his agonized wife, that the duty was very painful 
to himself; but the highest considerations required him to per- 
form it ; that her husband had been guilty of treason, and must die. 

Sadly did I then see the refusal of clemency or pardon ! But, a 
loyal citizen, obedient to the laws, I said, let noble, true, holy 
John Brown die ! He has erred ; but his Saviour will receive him, 
and crown him with everlasting glory. " The Lordknoweth them 
that are His." But more sadly, through these weary years, have 
1 beheld the long delay of just and legal retribution on those who, 
deliberately, avowedly, insultingly, plotted against the nation's 
peace and life, and inaugurated a bloody war ; who were moved 
by a fell ambition ; who hated other men because they held Chris- 
tian sentiments ; who were determined to gratify their avarice, 
tyranny and lust by perpetuating a crime most degrading to man, 
and most infamous in the sight of God ; who called themselves 
traitors, and gloried in the name of rebels ; and who, with demo- 
niac fury, and satanic malignity, set themselves to till the land 
with theft, flames and murder. 

These men have avowed their crime. Thej" have filled the full 
possible measure of earthly cruelty and iniquity. The monuments 
of desolation stand on every side. The woe and wailing is univer- 
sal. The innocent blood, yet wholly unappeased and unatoned, in 
deep red waves rolls over our country. The murderers, unawed, by 
hundreds of thousands stalk the land. Tell us, O, Justice ! born 
in Heaven, and given of God to man — thou friend of innocence — 
defender ot the weak — deliverer of the outraged and oppressed — 
maintain er of the truth — champion of righteousness — avenger of 
crime! Oh, whither hast thou fled ? Why haltest in the execution 
of thine office ? A million bloody daggers hath treason plied with 
all its power, on the lair neck of liberty, and yet SHE lives — re- 
vives — stands up again in beaut}^, purity and strength — preserved 
of God ! (), .Justice ! Atlas of all government in earth or heaven, 
wliv shouldsl, thou perish now? Who thus has smitten thee? 
Tell us, ere thou shalt utterly expire ! have all thine ordained 
instruments, thy sworn allies, the Church,the Court, the Jhders, who 
bear the sword of God — have all these conspired to be thine own 
assassinators ? 

What, Fellow Countrymen, is your duty and mine? Is it not, 
to call on those whom God has appointed for the administration 



of law, and the preservation of government, to do their duty, re- 
gardlesss alike of fear or favor; to put away all mawkish pity, all 
political expediency, and do rightfully, in the sight of God, who 
hath punished us so bitterly for our sins ; and who, if we permit 
the wicked to go unpunished, will Himself punish us further 
therefor. 

And ought we not, remembering, our own weakness, and our 
need of pardon, to bow before God, and implore Him to guide our 
rulers in every act — that they may permanently compose our nation- 
al distractions — heal soundly our nation's wounds, and save, untar- 
nished, our nation's honor? Let us pray Him to keep us from so 
demoralizing ourselves — so outraging consistency — so courting 
unending infamy — so falsifying facts — so enacting a stupendous 
lie — as, by our national acts, to make our national history declare 
in the face of the universe and of eternity, that, in all the period, 
of our national existence thus far, there has been but one ruler 
able to perceive the enormity of disloyalty and rebellion — Henry 
A. Wise ; but one citizen base enough to be a Traitor, and worthy 
to die for Treason — the Christian Martyr, John Brown ! ! ! 






<c 



. • 



